Two Indian sailors on board the Palau-flagged oil tanker MV Skylight hit by Iranian missiles, have reportedly died. Captain Ashish Kumar and Dilip Singh were missing after the tanker sank on March 1, 2026, after it was struck by Iran near the Strait of Hormuz.
The attack occurred approximately 5 nautical miles north of Khasab Port in Oman’s Musandam governorate, amid escalating regional tensions following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Oman’s Maritime Security Centre reported that the vessel was targeted by an Iranian projectile, resulting in smoke billowing from the ship and injuries to four crew members. 20 crew members—15 Indian nationals and 5 Iranians—were initially evacuated and received medical attention for varying degrees of injuries.
Initially, it was reported that there were no fatalities and all crew members from the tankers were rescued. But later it was found that two of the Indian crew members were missing, and now it has been confirmed that they died in the attack. Captain Ashish Kumar was from Bihar, while Dilip Singh was from Rajasthan’s Nagaur district.
According to the Captain’s family, Ashish and Dilip were in the engine room during the attack. After the missile hit, a massive fire broke out in that part of the ship, resulting in Ashish’s death. For the first 3 days, they believed that he was alive and were praying for his well-being. But last night they were informed that he is no more.
Notably, the tanker hit by Iran was actually part of its own “shadow fleet” – a network of vessels used to covertly transport Iranian oil and petroleum products in evasion of international sanctions. The Skylight was added to the U.S. sanctions list in December 2025, after U.S. authorities and maritime tracking services had identified the tanker as involved in such illicit operations, including ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned Iranian crude.
